~Jesus Paid It All~

I hear the Savior say,

“Thy strength indeed is small;

Child of weakness, watch and pray,

Find in Me thine all in all.”

For nothing good have I

Whereby Thy grace to claim,

I’ll wash my garments white

In the blood of Calv’ry’s Lamb.

And now complete in Him

My robe His righteousness,

Close sheltered ’neath His side,

I am divinely blest.

Lord, now indeed I find

Thy power and Thine alone,

Can change the leper’s spots

And melt the heart of stone.

When from my dying bed

My ransomed soul shall rise,

“Jesus died my soul to save,”

Shall rend the vaulted skies.

And when before the throne

I stand in Him complete,

I’ll lay my trophies down

All down at Jesus’ feet.

Jesus paid it all,

All to Him I owe;

Sin had left a crimson stain,

He washed it white as snow.

~Inexhaustible grace~

"Grace,... allows me to hear the hardest things about my flaws and patterns of sin because I know, by grace, that there is no flaw I can discover nor any sin I can unearth that can ever decimate my life. I cannot be any more loved and accepted than I am by the Lord who loves me with the full knowledge of what I have done, am doing, and will do; I have unshakable confidence that nothing can reduce His love for me. Therefore, I am free to admit my desperation. In so doing, I can experience real change, which is the very power of the kingdom of heaven in my life.

What marks kingdom people as genuine Christians is that they keep coming back to this one thing - the inexhaustible grace of God, knowing that it is all we have and all we need."
~Elyse Fitzpatrick

The Lord is good...

"Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good;

Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!"

Psalm 34:8

~New mercies for each day~

I have been learning lately the value of focusing on one day at a time... focusing on God's great love for me... and focusing on His sovereignty.

There is something within each of us, that wants to control our lives, isn't there? But it is a fruitless pursuit. It is a road filled with worry and anxiety. No matter how hard we try we are incredibly insufficient to plan our life out.

And to add a little note: I'm not necessarily saying we shouldn't plan or have dreams and goals, but that we should focus on today and eternity mostly and hold those dreams/plans for the future lightly. As Corrie Ten Boom aptly puts it: "Hold everything in your hands lightly, otherwise it hurts when God pries your fingers open."

So here comes faith. God IS indeed in control. And that is good news... yet, I find there's a daily surrender I have to do to refocus my mind on His majesty and my dependence. Placing hopes and dreams on the Lover of my soul, who has planned life out.

So I'm learning to refocus on the truth. Trust in Him. Because fretting "only causes harm"... (Psalm 37:8b).

And what does the Bible tell us to do instead?
Let's look here:
"Trust in the Lord, and do good;
dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.
Delight yourself in the Lord,
and He will give you the desires of your heart.

Commit your way to the Lord;
trust in Him, and He will act.
He will bring forth your righteousness as the light,
and your justice as the noonday.

Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him..."
~Psalm 37:3-7

There's so much direction packed into those verses, isn't there?

His mercies are new for each day. They're happening right now. They're not for tomorrow yet...

Our loving Father holds our lives in His hand. Nothing can stop His sovereign plans!

Take heart with me, and let's delight in our God and His mercies for today! =) =)

~Jesus Christ is so much better~

"Jesus Christ is so much better than getting what you think you want right now... every situation that comes into our lives is meant to make us more like Christ and to bring Him glory."

~Elyse Fitzpatrick